Stress increases Hashimoto's risk

Stress could increase the risk for autoimmune disease Hashimoto

04/21/2014

Autoimmune diseases of the thyroid, such as Hashimoto, are among the common diseases. Above all, working women are affected in this country. Stress may increase your risk of developing Hashimoto.

Above all, working women are affected
Autoimmune diseases of the thyroid, such as Hashimoto, are among the common diseases. About ten percent of women and two percent of men in Germany suffer from a so-called Hashimoto's thyroiditis, as the news magazine „02elf Düsseldorfer Abendblatt“ reported. Above all, working women are affected in this country. In the context of such an autoimmune disease may develop a hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. In about ten percent of the total population, elevated thyroid autoantibodies were detectable in the blood. Nationwide, 7.5 percent of people would have increased hormone levels and thus a latent sub-function.

Many symptoms of thyroid disease
A thyroid disorder is associated with numerous symptoms, such as fatigue, weight loss, freezing, heart rhythm disorders or depression. Like the Mainz endocrinologist Dr. med. Christian Wüster according to the press report said, is Hashimoto „a chronic inflammation of the thyroid gland. Ironically, the body's immune system attacks the thyroid gland and damages it. This is called a so-called autoimmune disease. The result is a hypofunction of the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland no longer produces enough hormones.”

Hyperthyroidism was followed by subfunction
The thyroid, which has the shape of a butterfly, is a hormone center that controls the metabolism of our body. If this organ is attacked by the immune system, then it comes first to a hormone overproduction. This hyperthyroidism causes nervousness and a constant restlessness and is associated with symptoms such as palpitations, high blood pressure and stress. Thyroid hyperfunction is followed in the second phase by permanent hypothyroidism. Consequences of this are symptoms such as depression, circulatory problems, fatigue but sometimes also weight gain, hair loss or brittle hair. „The symptoms are completely individual. Hashimoto is a disease with many faces“, so Wüster.

Causes of the disease are not sufficiently clarified
A causal therapy of thyroid autoimmune disease was previously unknown and so dysfunctions such as over- or under-function must be treated accordingly. Also not sufficiently clarified are the exact impact factors that lead to the outbreak of Hashimoto. Among other things, in addition to a family (genetic) preload, stress, severe viral diseases and environmental effects or, more recently, excessive iodine intake are discussed as possible triggers. Hashimoto's thyroiditis is named after the Japanese physician Hakaru Hashimoto, who first described this form of thyroiditis in 1912. (Sb)